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A DESCRIPTION OF ANTIQUITIES AT CORDOVA. 
work of the roof is further covered with lead: and the whole 
has been executed with such precision and taste, that it may 
justly be pronounced a chef-d'oeuvre of art, both with respect 
to the arrangement of its different parts, as well as to the 
extent and solidity of the whole. 
On a slight inspection of Plate V. it may perhaps strike 
the observer, that the general effect would have been im- 
proved, and the perspective heightened, by the introduction 
of a little more light from above: but, had such a correction 
been made, our engraving would not have been a faithful re- 
presentation of the solemn and majestic interior of the Mosque 
at Cordova. A " dim, religious light" is admitted into it, 
by the doors on the sides, and from several small cupolas 
above; which falls upon some parts of this immense edifice, 
while others are left in awful darkness. Individuals, walking 
through this forest of columns may, by an ardent imagination, 
not unaptly be compared to wandering spirits ;--their persons 
may readily be distinguished, but their footsteps cannot be 
heard. 
PLATE VI. 
ELEVATION OF THE GATE OF THE SANCTUARY OF THE KORAN. 
By the several alterations and additions, which were made at 
different times by the Spanish Arabs, they had divided the 
mosque into four parts, marked out by two lines of clustered 
pillars, crossing each other at right angles.  Three of these 
portions were allotted to the common people and to the women: 
the fourth, which was in the south-east angle, was appro- 
priated to the Imams or priests and great men.  In this last 
division was the great Kiblah or Sanctuary, better known by 
the appellation of the Zancarron, in which the Koran was 
deposited. Its door was in front of the great gate, at the end 
of the principal aisle: and the architecture and ornaments of 
this Sanctuary, as well as the throne of Almansur which faced 
it, are very different from those employed in the other parts 
of the edifice; all the skill and taste of the Moors appear to 
have been lavished on it, in the richest profusion. 
Two rows of columns, about six feet in height, rise one 
above another, and support the screen before this Sanctuary. 
The columns are chiefly of verd antique, or red marble veined 
with white; the pilasters are of red or white marble; and 
the capitals are of white marble, gilt in many places. The 
arabesques and other ornaments of the timber-work of the 
roof, as well as those of the pilasters, are very fine, and bear 
a great resemblance to the sculptures in the Alhamra- at 
Granada. 
of the Zancarron, of which our plate represents 
n, is indeed an assemblage of beauties rarely to 
. As it very closely resembles the fine specimens 
architecture to be seen in Upper Egypt, and is 
bly in a different style from the rest of the Moorish 
it was probably executed in imitation of the 
)amascus and Baghdad: it certainly is the finest 
specimen, in the whole edifice, of the first ot me tree pe 
into which the history of Arabian architecture is di) 
This gate is of white marble delicately sculptured, and 
pented with numerous columns of precious marble. Th 
itself is mosaic, with a blue ground, and the decoratio 
perbly gilt; and its intrados are gold, red, blue, and 
mosaics, of singular beauty. Unfortunately, the Arab 
scriptions are at present too much defaced, to be suffic 
legible for the purpose of being transcribed and trans 
yet, from their imperfect remains we are justified in st 
that the Cufic characters were distinguished by equal 
n"A   .... I __  Iv. r  .... ,,-,,   ,-,  , J~ ;,-,]1  r  it  the  ton
 a 
either side of the arch, are in mosaic on a blue ground with 
gold letters; and the single line, immediately over the arch, 
is also in mosaic, on a gold ground with blue letters. The 
contrast is exceedingly striking in its present comparatively 
decaying state, and the whole is truly superb: but, when 
illuminated, (especially on the last ten nights of the month 
Ramazan) by the massive silver chandelier, which hung down 
in its centre, the gorgeous beauty of the Zancarron must have 
surpassed every thing that we can possibly conceive of splen- 
dour or magnificence. 
The interior of this Sanctuary is an octagon, only fifteen 
feet in diameter, into which the light is with difficulty ad- 
mitted; its walls are covered with ornaments nearly similar 
to those above described: and the cupola is composed of a 
single block of marble, said to be eighteen feet in width; 
which, as Mr. Swinburne has justly remarked, is not only 
curious for its size and quality, but also for the ingenuity 
of the architect, by whom it was placed in such a perfect 
equilibrium, as to remain unshaken during the lapse of so- 
many ages. 
The Zancarron is at present a chapel, dedicated to Saint 
Peter, and formerly belonged to the Dukes of Alba: it contains 
the tombs of several grandees of that family, and is now the 
property of the Conde de Oropesa. 
PLATE VII. 
EXTERIOR ANGLE OF THE MOSQUE. 
EACH of the four fronts of this noble edifice presents walls of 
uncommon solidity, crowned with engrailed battlements, and 
supported by buttresses, which, at a distance, have the ap- 
pearance of so many towers.  Our plate gives a view of the 
exterior south-west angle of the mosque : the walls are covered 
with plaster of a greyish colour, which being decayed in 
some parts, the stone-work becomes apparent; the massive 
outside pier or buttress, is nine feet and a half in height from 
the ground to the bottom of the engrailed battlement. 
Such is the general character of the building; but it is 
worthy of remark, that each front differs from the other as to 
its height and ornaments, in consequence of the Arabian 
architect being obliged to accommodate the structure to the 
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